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TV interview shows Brown is brushing up
It should have been toe-curlingly embarrassing but Gordon Brown seemed to come out of it pretty well, raising the stakes for the planned debates between party leaders ahead of the election.
The prime minister’s appearance on Piers Morgan’s celebrity interview programme on Sunday night must have been designed to show a more human side to Brown — who often comes across as awkward and intellectual.
Previous such attempts have never worked that well. “Project Gordon” before he took over from Tony Blair in 2007 only attracted ridicule when it produced headlines like the then-Chancellor loving a band called the Arctic Monkeys.
Brown was asked about that on Sunday. He said that had never been the case, the Beatles were his favourite band.
But there was none of the defensiveness that often characterises Brown’s television interviews.
Asked whether he had ever been a plonker, the prime minister who once found it so hard to say sorry, admitted he had made mistakes but had learnt from them.
We saw a Brown not afraid to laugh at himself and also mischievously poke fun at other world leaders — President Nicolas Sarkozy seemed easy game.
Michelle sparkles as hostess Sarah plays it safe
Sarah Brown will have had an anxious early morning.
Her husband’s attempt to be the great fixer of the financial crisis and best friend of the United States at the same time was a big ask, but how was she going to handle the visit of Michelle Obama?
This was the first time Sarah had been called upon to host her new opposite number from The White House. And it wasn’t all smiling outside Downing Street either – the pair had to visit a cancer care centre as well and – horrors – meet Her Majesty the Queen.
Michelle is only three months younger than Sarah, but she is a graduate of Princeton and Harvard, is the taller of the two by some distance and is famously well dressed.
She was on the cover of Vogue magazine last month and is constantly being compared to Jackie Kennedy.
So what does Sarah wear?
The choice was a smart, dark blue suit – she looked frightfully important and every bit the hostess of the world’s 20 most important nations.
Like the article, but don’t agree that Sarah played it safe – she looked well-dressed and elegant which is exactly how she should look, she’s the wife of a politician not a ‘celebrity’!
I think she looks a bit cheap and mis-matched too – the colours are a big bluergh… she could have done better with her great figure!
Sarah Brown comes out from the shadows
They all agreed. “She was lovely.”
Sarah Brown finally stepped out from the shadow of her husband, Gordon, and appeared on the campaign trail.
While the prime minister was dashing around the world as a global economic statesman, saving the financial system, Sarah was helping save her husband’s political reputation on home soil.
She made numerous appearances in Glenrothes, Scotland, to campaign on behalf of the Labour candidate Lindsay Roy, a headmaster at Gordon’s old school, in a parliamentary constituency that backs on to his own Kirkcaldy seat.
So successful were her visits that Labour began to regard her as a “secret weapon”, boosting Gordon’s image and helping defy the bookmakers’ odds and hold onto the seat against a confident Scottish National Party (SNP).
“It was nice to see her,” said Louise Glancey, a 44-year-old staff nurse, who saw her campaigning.
“I think, generally, people are happy to see them [Sarah and Gordon]. It’s annoying to get the leaflets, but it is good to see them being enthusiastic.”
When the electorate votes, it votes for a politician (exepting Brown as he was unelected)and the policies that they represent not their spouse either male or female.
It seems to be that females think that they have the right to be on the decision making board just because they are married to the main man. A quick look at Cherie and Hilary shows just how big a disaster they have been.
Politicians wives should stay out of business that they have not been elected to carry out. As for their opportunistic husbands for giving them a voice in the first place, shame on you.
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The Wall
I think that the Piers Morgan interview showed Gordon Brown to be a much more rounded human being than is often portrayed in the media. He may well pull off his biggest recovery yet by winning the forthcoming general election? It only needs David Cameron to slip on a “banana skin” in the coming weeks and his negative campaigning might be his downfall?